Can horses eat onion? – Know the truth exactly! -Everything explained!

Can horses eat onion? – Do you have a horse with you? And also, are you growing onions at your place? Then please make sure not to let your horse approach those onions. It may be a life-threatening condition for your horse. Let us get to know more about that thing. First of all, let us go through the onion plant. Allium cepa, commonly known as Onions, belongs to the Liliaceae family. It is a bulb plant and can be seen worldwide. In many countries, onion is an essential ingredient in their food. Although humans can eat onions, it is toxic for some animals. N-propyl sulfide, allyl disulfide, and methyl disulfide are toxic components present in onion plants. The amount of chemical composition in the plant depends on the plant’s growing conditions, the species, and the time of year it grows.

You can learn more about onions, and their toxicity from this site http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0716-97602010000400007

Can horses eat onion? – Symptoms are to be seen in horses after having onions.

If the horse consumes those onions in large amounts, it may cause severe toxicity, even fatal.
The propyl disulfide contained in onions forms oxygen-free radicals, which damage the membrane of red blood cells. That causes cells to release haemoglobin. The haemoglobin binds to the red blood cells and forms Heinz bodies. Those red blood cells that cause horses to become anaemic are removed from circulation. This condition is called Heinz hemolytic anaemia.
At first, you will notice onions breathe into your horse, and then step by step, it will become fatal. Then you will observe the following symptoms in them.
Increase heart rate
Sulfur or onion odour breath
Staggering
Ataxia
Pale mucous membranes
Paralysis
Dark red-brown urine
Abortion in mares

Can horses eat onion? – Diagnosis

Wild onion intoxication can cause anaemia and even death. If your horse ingests wild onion, you have to begin the detoxification process immediately. For that process, you have to take your horse to a veterinarian. Then he will start to make the diagnosis according to the following order.
History
Clinical signs
Physical exam
blood gas analysis.

When beginning a diagnosis for wild onion poisoning, the veterinarian asks everything about the horse the food it eats, and the number of onions it consumes. As the second step, the veterinarian has to search the clinical signs and observe symptoms seen in the horse. Then she will take a Complete blood count do a urine test and check for abnormalities. After doing the testings and depending on the results, the veterinarian gives medicine to the horse. If the veterinarian cannot confirm the cause, she will do more tests till she finds a reason.

There is no treatment for this illness. Your veterinarian treats the symptoms that your horse is suffering from. She can keep your horse comfortable by providing supportive therapies to the horse. To keep his kidneys, liver, and urinary tract flowing, she will do fluid therapy on the horse.
Keeping the horse calm, comfortable, and stress-free during the treatments is very important for his recovery. If he is suffering from breathing difficulties, the veterinarian must use a machine to support his breathing. Giving him a good diet is also more important in this period.

Onion is the second most important horticultural crop. Because of their characteristics in storage and shipping, onions have always been traded more widely than other vegetables. World onion production has increased over the past ten years, and Onion consumption has increased significantly because of promotions on its flavour and health. Onions normally grow in many kinds of lands, and they are easy to grow. So, many people tend to grow onions at home. Generally, in Western countries, many people breed horses in their homes. So that. If the horse can approach the place where onions are grown, that may cause problems. As mentioned earlier in the text, if a horse eats so many onions, that may lead to a life threat to the horse, so it is essential to keep the horses away from onions. You can search for more information through the following site.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/onion